January 2005
At the time of writing this, we are all looking forward to the two school carol services (followed by seasonal refreshments), to the ecumenical service and our round of Christmas Eucharists, including St Stephen’s Day special Service of the Word with Communion (it being a Sunday). A big thank you (I write in advance) to all who help make Christmas special by cleaning and decorating the churches, playing the organs, putting that extra effort into the unseen jobs like putting the heating on in time or washing and ironing the church linens.
A general thank you as well to the wider community who organise the different Christmas lunches and entertainment for our senior citizens. As Rector I seem to get invited to all of them (four in total) which is a good way of getting to know people I may not meet otherwise (expanding waistline as well!)
Desertserges National School - the children raised €840.00 doing a sponsored spelling bee challenge. All children from 1st class to 6th class learned over 100 spellings (appropriate to their age) for a big spelling test. All who participated received congratulatory plaques.
The school was one of twelve winners of the AIB/Leargas EYES (European Year of Education in Sport) and staff and pupils went by early train to Dublin to receive their reward (€500) from the President, Mrs Mary McAleese on 6th December and had a wonderful tour of Dublin. Well done everybody.
To Avril Buttimer (graduation day 9th Dec) BA (Hons.) in Geography and Irish, and to all others who graduated last year whose details I don’t have – well done!
Many thanks to Karl Shorten for making a splendid notice board for St Mary’s Church Desertserges. No one can remember the church ever having a notice board for services before. Local people are usually ‘in the know,’ but new residents (of whom there are many) and holidaymakers who come to fish locally on the Bandon – just don’t know. They ask ‘Why is your church closed?’ and ‘Does it have a name?’ Well now the name is clear to see, as are all the times of services around the Union and the church is definitely ‘in use.’ The notice board is the same design as the one at Kilmeen, which Karl also made a few years ago.
Our collections for our Missionary/Charity Giving Initiative, end of November/beginning of December came to €2,765. Well done and thank you to all who gave so generously. Many farming families are finding it difficult to make ends meet at the moment; but it is often those who have experienced hardship themselves who are the most generous.
All the Children’s Church leaders had an interesting and informative meeting together with the Rector at the beginning of December. Rose Shorten and Edith Draper shared their experiences of their day in Dublin for Sunday school teachers and brought back plenty of tips and creative ideas. We would love to hear from any men who feel they could share on the rota. The Bishop is planning Safeguarding Trust training again for this year and needs to know of new names no later than the 7th January – so I need to know really before you read this - there will have been announcements in the weekly pew leaflet.
The Kinneigh/Castletown Table Tennis Club had a marvellous evening of flower arranging and cookery with the local choir doing a spot between. Nearly €2,000 was raised (money still coming in.) Thank you to everyone who supported this and all those who worked so hard.
All God’s blessings and happiness for 2005.